Adelaide to host local World Youth Day celebration
The Catholic Office for Youth and Young Adults (COYYA) in the Archdiocese of Adelaide is excited to announce World Youth Day Adelaide 2019, a celebration for young people ages 16 to 35.
Following a week of activities across the archdiocese, the celebration will culminate in a festival on Sunday 27 January 2019 at Sacred Heart College Senior Campus.
While the international World Youth Day will be occurring in Panama, the Adelaide celebration will provide young people with an opportunity to participate locally.
WYD Adelaide 2019 is set to be the most significant gathering of young people in the Archdiocese since Adelaide hosted the Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF) in 2015. The program will feature over 35 musical acts across two live music stages, workshops, speaker panels, food trucks, amusements and a youth-led liturgy.
Headliners for the festival day include Gospo Collective featuring Charmaine Jones; the hosts of Jesuitical, a podcast for young Catholics (USA); and Genevieve Bryant. Gospo Collective combine secular and sacred music and have performed to sell-out crowds at the Adelaide Fringe Festival (Gospolation, 2017, and Jackson Vs Jackson, 2018).
Jesuitical is a weekly podcast from America Magazine (USA), hosted by three young editors, Ashley McKinless, Olga Segura and Zac Davis, and will be recording a live episode at World Youth Day Adelaide 2019. Genevieve Bryant is a Melbourne-based musician who has performed at World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow, Poland, as well as at all three ACYFs.
COYYA Coordinator Peter Bierer shared his excitement for the event.
“I’m excited to be able to offer young people in the Archdiocese of Adelaide a chance to come together and explore faith while having a good time,” he said.
Workshops and discussions
The celebration will also feature workshop topics including mental health, music, leadership, media, the environment and social justice. These topics were recently identified by young people in local and national surveys as areas of significance .
“The program our team has developed for WYD is in direct response to listening with young people over the last couple of years. We’ve heard from young people which issues and topics are important to them, that they are looking for community, a place to belong, and a Church that listens to and responds to them,” said Mr Bierer.
COYYA is awarding grants to parishes and communities to host youth events across the archdiocese in the week leading up to the festival day (20-25 January). COYYA will also provide diocesan-wide events, such as a young adult pilgrimage to Sevenhill Winery and Jesuit retreat centre and a ‘Theology on Tap’-style event with the hosts of Jesuitical. Information regarding these events will be available at www.cathyouthadelaide.org.au/wyd.
Mr Bierer is encouraging young people to save the date and book their tickets now.
“If you come to WYD Adelaide, you’re going to have a good time. Maybe you’ll make some new friends and connect with God at some level. My hope is that you come away from WYD with something that affects you at a personal level and stays with you for a while,” he said.
Tickets and further information are available at www.cathyouthadelaide.org.au/wyd